(Reuters) -A U.S. court officer overseeing the auction for PDV Holdings, the parent of Venezuela-owned U.S. refiner Citgo Petroleum, has recommended a $7.38 billion bid from Gold Reserve subsidiary Dalinar Energy, according to a court filing and a company statement.

A group led by commodities trading house Vitol had submitted a bid exceeding $10 billion in the final hours of the U.S. court-organized auction, two sources with knowledge of the offer told Reuters on Wednesday.

Earlier this year, the court selected a $3.7-billion offer from Contrarian Funds’ affiliate Red Tree Investments as a starting bid in the second bidding round for PDV. The offer included an agreement to pay holders of a Venezuelan defaulted bond.

Court officer Robert Pincus said he believed that Dalinar’s bid was the best among those submitted, according to the court filing.

"Dalinar’s proposed sale transaction is approximately $3.576 billion higher than the stalking horse transaction," the filing said, referring to Red Tree’s bid, adding that Dalinar’s was "the highest bid that meets the bid requirements".

Dalinar’s $7.38 billion bid is a revised one, relying on a combination of equity and debt financing, and is supported by a consortium including Rusoro Mining , two units of U.S. conglomerate Koch and Germany’s Siemens (ETR: SIEGn ) Energy, Gold Reserve said.

Dalinar had initially made a $7.1 billion bid for PDV.

The sale requires approval of a judge.